Cushioning device.



PATENTED JUNE 2, 1908.

P. O. KILGORE. GUSHIONING DEVICE.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 16, 1907.

5 Fig.2.

,To all. whom it may concern:

UNITED STATES PATENT OFF FREDERICK o. KILGORE, or MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA, 'ASSIGNOR T KILGORE MANUFAC- TURING COMPANY, or OLDTOWN, nAmnAooRPonArroN OF MAINE.

' cUsmoNme nn vrcn.

-Be i-tknown that I, FREDERIOK.O KIL;

eoRE,. a citizen of the United States, residing in Minneapolis, in the county of Hennepin and State of Minnesota, have invented an Im rovement in. Cushioning Devices, of which the following descriptlon, in connection with the accompanyin drawings, is a e drawings representing like parts.

Th .'s invention relates to a cushioning (lovice especially designed and adapted amo .g other uses to be employed on automobiles is a shock absorber. For this pur ose I employ two preferably cylindrica members movable one Within the other, and one of which is designed to be connected with the car body and theother to the sprin supporting the car body or it may be to t e axle of the car. closed at its ends and is provided with a,piston having its rod or stem extended through one head of its cylinder and connected with the other c lindrical member. Provision is made for tli e'passage'of air or other elastic ,fiuid, from one side of the pistonlto the other,

toform air cushions withlnclosed chambers formed by the piston and-the heads of itscylinder as the piston is moved in opposite directions.

The present invention has foi its object to provide means for adjusting the cushion to,

cars having difl'erent spring ower or strength of springs which support t e car body, and this result may be accomplished byrprovid ing means for cutting off the passage of air fromone side .of the iston. to the other at difierent portions'of t e stroke of the piston In the resent -iristance I have shown one metho of accom plishing this result, and to that end the cylinder in which the piston-is located is ro- .vided with one or more ports extended ongitudinally thereof intermediate its ends and arran ed as will be described so as to be closed at dii ton, so as to form closed air chambers of differeitt capacity or size and thereby obtain a grea er or less cushioning eifect to adapt the cushioning device to sprin s of varying strength or elasticity on di erent .autor'noe biles or other vehicles. The port or ports in the c lindercontaining the piston may be out o Specification of Letters Patent. Application filed March is," 1907. s en No. 362,316.-

be describe One of the cylindrical members is for it may be to-the' axle o p a closed cham erent portions of the stroke of the pis-f' by-means of a jacket on said cylinder, 7 said jacketbeingprovided as herein shown.

Patented June 2, 19.08.

with a slot, groove'or. channel on, its inner circumference and extended longitudinally thereof. The 'acket referred to, is capable. of being. turned ndifferent portions of the same port, as will Provision is also made. for

on its cylinder so as to cause" the slot or channel to connect difierent ports. 0

forming. an -anti-friction bearing surfacefor the closed cylinder as will be described.

The apparatus has further provision'for. avoiding cramping or binding of the cylinders by movement of the car body laterally as will be described.

Figure 1. represents a sufficientportion of;

an automobile provided with' a cushioning device embodying this'invention, to enable it to be understood. 7 Fig. 2, a lon itudinal section on an enlarged scale of the evice shown in Fig. 1, the parts being in their extended position. 3, a like View with the parts compressed. Figs. 4, 5 and 6, details to be referred to, Fig. 6 being a sectionon the line I 66, Fig. 5, looking toward the right.

Referring to the drawing 0. represents one member or cylinder, which is open atone end for the rece tion ofthe member b, which lat- I *ter is close at its ends by the heads 0, d, and

contains a piston e, having its rod f extended head 9 of the larger cylinder or member a.. One member as. a is desi ned to be attached to the body is of theve 'cle and the other s ring '5,

chambers so asto form elastic cushions of greater or less volume or size, accordin to the spring action of the vehicle, that is, w en through thehead c and connected with the i cylinder toward which it is moving, and for varying the. size of said the vehicle .is supported on short. or stifi springs, and the spring action'ofthe vehicle 7 is short, the cushioning device is adjusted so as to obtain'a longcushion; and when the spring action is considerable, the device is adjusted so as to obtain a short cushion. In other words, the cushioning device is capable of being adjusted so as'to not-interfere with or diminish the actionof substantially) springs, and to increase the action of en stanlong 'tially shortfor stifi' springs. In the present in-' stance I have shown one construction for ac-' complishing this purpose. To thisend, the

- tion to the axial line of the cy inder and subaccomplished by providing the cylinder 6' stantially out of line with one another, and corres nding ports of both groups are arran e substantially-in line with each other as early shown in Figs. 2, 3, 4 and-5. V

Provision is made for connectin 'correspondin ports of both groups, so t at the e astic uid may pass from one side of the piston e to the other, and this result may be with a jacket loose thereon and having on its inner circumference a groove, slot or channel 21, which is adapted to connect corresponding ports in the cylinder by turning the jacket on said cylinder. For convenience,

' the ports 10, 17 may be designated the end ports, the ports 13, 14, the center ports, and

the ports 11, 12 15, 16 the intermedlate ports.

When the acket 20 is turned so that the slot short sprinlg 21 occupies the position shown in Fig. 4, the,

portion of the cylinder 1) on one side of the piston e is connected with the portion on the opposite side of said iston, so that. the air can pass from one si e of the piston to the other through the'end ports 10, 17, until one of the said end ports is closed by'said piston,

thereby forming a closed chamber behmd the piston,'which contains air, and further movement of the piston is resisted by a confined body of air, which forms an elastic cushion to absorb. the jars or shocks occasioned by the vehicle traveling over rough roads. It will be observed that when the end orts 10, 17 are connected as represented in liigs. 2 and 4, the piston has its longest range of movement and thatthe air cushion is of minimum size or area. This condition is useful with vehicles having considerable spring action.

If the spring action is shorterthan that above referred to, the jacket 20 is turned so as to close the end lports, and with the shortest spring action, a the ports are closed except the center ports 13, 14, which condition is represented m Fig. 5. By reference to Fig. 5 it will be seen that the piston e would have to travel but little distance before it closedone of the ports 13, 14, consequently forming'a '10 or maximum air cushlon behind it';-'so that in this case the action of the is augmented by the lo .air cushion. the spring action of the ve icle is between these limits, the jacket 20 is turnedsg as -to uncover one or the other of embodied in an apparatus employing air or the intermediate ports 11, 16, or 12, 15, and thereby form an air cushion between the extreme air cushions above noted. In this will be observed, that by ad usting the jacket the volume of fluid which is permitted to pass from one side of the piston to the other,

may be varied according to the elasticity of the spring supporting the 'car body. In this manner, a too rapid action downward of an elastic spring or a too rapid recoil of such spring, can be retarded or restrained to obtain the desired s ring action for comfortable riding. This eature is also useful when a non-elastic fluid is used. Provision is also made for preventing the members of the device 'being bound or cramped by. sudden lurching or side'movement of. the car body, and for. this urp'ose, the member a is connected with tiie car body by a ball and socket joint, which may be made as shown in Fig. 2, wherein the head 9 of the member a is shown as rovided with a boss 30 having a substantia y circular socket 31 provided with a lateral o ening 32, and into which is extended a ba 34 attached to an arm 35, which is fastened to the car body. The socket 31 and the opening .32 are ofgreater diameter than the ball 34, and said socket is rovided.

with a lining 36 of composition or ot er suitable antifriction material, which serves to retain the ball 34 its socket. The member 6 is provided with a lug 40 having a ball and socket joint in a similar manner, and con-- sisting of a ball 41 open at diametrically o posite points and retained in asocket in t e In 40 by a lining 42. Provision is also made i or obtaining a substantially long antifriction bearing surface for the members a,

etween the member I). and the member was clearly shown Fig.2.

I have herein shown one form of means for e ef-,

'b, to slide on. This result may be accomvarying the length and volume of the air cushion to adjust it to cars of difi'erent spring power, but I'do not desire to limit my invention to the particular construction shown.

I have herein. described the invention as other elasticfluid, which I pre er to use, but I do not desire to limit my invention in this respect, as certain features of the invention may be embodied in apparatus employing a liquid, as for instance, the cylinder I) having means for by-passing the liquid and additional means for regulating or controlling the volume or amount of the liquid so bypassed, may be used to advantage in a shock absorber employinga liquid. The iston f may be surrounded with a fleXibl dustguard 50.

, Claims:

mentioned cylinder, ports or openings in said second cylinder arranged out of line with one another, a acket loose on said second cylinder and provided with a roove or channel to permit of the passage of fluid from one side of the piston to the other, said jacket being movable on its cylinder to vary the length of the fluid cushion formed between said iston andan end of its cylinder, substantia lly as described.

2. In an apparatus of the class described, in combination, a cylinder closed at one end and open at its other, a second cylinder PTO-,- vided with heads and movable in the first mentioned cylinder, a piston in said second cylin-' der having a piston rod extended through one of said heads and secured to the firstmentioned cylinder, ports or openings in said second cylinder arranged out of line with one another, and means to close said ports or openings to form closed chambers'of different sizes or capacities between said-piston and a head of its cylinder, substantlally as de' scribed. v

3. In an apparatus of the class described,

. in combination, two members movable one other of said members,

within the other, a piston in one of said members having its piston rod connected with the means cooperating with said piston for permitting the passage of fluid from one side of said piston to the other, and for forming closed chambers at opposite sides of .said piston, and means for varying the size of said closed chambers to adjust the I device to different spring action, substantially as described.

4. In an apparatus of the class described, in combination, two members movable one within the other, a piston in one of said members having its piston rod connected with the other of said members, means cooperating with said piston for permitting the passage of fluid from one side of said piston to the other, and 'for forming a closed chamber between said piston and the end of its cylinder, and means for varying the size of the closed chamber, substant1ally as described.

5. In an apparatus of the class described, in combination, two cylindrical members movable one within the other and one of which is provided with openings in it, a piston in one of said members having its piston rod connected with the other of said members, and pieces of antifriction material insorted into the openingsin one of said members and making contact with the other of said members, substantially as described.

6. In an apparatus of the class described, in. combination, two members movable one within the other, a piston in one of said members having its piston rod connected with the other of said members, means coo crating with said piston for forming closed 0 ambers at opposite ends of one of said members, and means for varying the length of said closed chambers, substantially asdescribed.

7 In an apparatus of the class described, in. combination, a cylinder provided with ports or openings intermediate its ends, a piston in said cy inder cooperating with said ports to form closed chambers at opposite ends of the cylinder, and means cooperating with said ports to vary the length of said closed chambers, substantially as described.-

8. In an apparatus of the class described,

in combination, a cylinder provided with a plurality of ports on o posite sides of its center, a piston in said cy inder cooperating w1th said ports to form closed cham ers at 0ppo site ends of the cylinder, and means 006 erating with said orts to vary the lengt of said closed cham ers. I

9. In any apparatus of the "class described, in combination, a cylinder provided with a plurality of ports on op osite sides of its center, a piston movable t erein toward the opposite ends of said cylinder, and a sleeve loose 'on said cylinder to turn thereon and provided with a roove to connect thesaid ports, substantia y as described.

In testimony whereof, I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribin witnesses.

FR DERIOK O. KILGORE.

Witnesses:

JAs. H. CHURCHILL, J. MURPHY. 

